French fried potatoes have long been popular as a convenience food, particularly potatoes which have been frozen and may be easily re-heated. Various methods have been proposed for preparing such products so that they have a pleasing appearance as well as their unique taste appeal. Desirably, to achieve such appearance of the prepared pieces requires that they have a golden brown highlighting and a satisfactory golden color.
Attempts have been made to produce such coloring without overcooking, since prolonged cooking requires added heat and dwell time, which may result in excessive loss of water, thereby concentrating "solids" in the product.
One such method for preparing potato pieces is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,030, issued to Haury et al. Such previous methods include using a combination of sodium acid pyrophosphate (SAPP) and caramel, together with adequate glucose or other sugars, so that after the potato pieces have been prepared and partially cooked, as by immersion in a heated water bath or steamed, the surface of the potato pieces will absorb adequate sugar prior to cooking in vegetable oils. This allows the pieces to develop the desired color through a combination of caramel coloring and caramelization of the sugar content.
Unfortunately, with such an arrangement the brown highlighted coloring most desirable for the surface appearance of the potato pieces may require prolonged cooking to fully develop a desired golden yellow color. Such extended cooking tends to increase the solids content of the finished par-fried pieces. It also results in additional cost due to the longer processing time and heat required to color the particles properly. Further, the color so developed may be affected by the state of maturity or "ripeness" of the potatoes, their storage conditions, and their sugar content. Each of these factors can significantly alter the final color of the cooked potato strips.
On the other hand, if the potato pieces are not cooked to a consistent color, the appearance of edible product will not be consistently golden brown after final cooking
As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,424,591, issued to Gold, et al., other methods of affecting the coloring of French fried potatoes pieces may include dipping the partially cooked potato pieces in non-ionic alkylcellulose ether, such as hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose, or carboxymethyl-cellulose, generally designated as an aqueous hydrocolloid solution. This coating inhibits natural browning. The primary purpose of the hydrocolloid disclosed in this patent is to form a viscous coating to prevent penetration of oil during the subsequent cooking period.
U.S. Pat. No. Re 27,531, issued to Murray et al. discloses treating potato products from reconstituted raw potatoes or sliced raw potatoes. Prior to cooking in hot edible cooking oil, potato pieces are dipped in an amylose coating. The amylose starch fraction is used as the coating product because it produces improved appearance, texture and taste when it is used to coat potato products prior to deep frying.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,268, issued to Van Patten et al. likewise is directed to the use of a coating containing a high percentage of amylose starch. In this process, the amylose coating is an aqueous solution which may also contain sugar, dextrose and sodium acid pyrophosphates. The coating takes place before deep frying.